World War 2 Timelines 1939-1945 - Western Europe 1945

At Luneburg Heath on the 4th May 1945, Montgomery reads the surrender terms for German troops in the west to Admirals Wagner and Friedburg.

Western Europe!

02/01/1945

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey dies in plane crash near Paris and becomes the fourth prominent allied leader to die like this.

03/01/1945

The U.S. First Army counter-attacks on the northern side of the Ardennes salient.

09/01/1945

The U.S. Third Army counter-attacks towards Houffalize, on the southern side of the Ardennes salient.

11/01/1945

British troops capture Laroche, 20 miles Northwest of Bastogne.

12/01/1945

The German 'Nordwind' offensive is stopped 13 miles from Strasbourg. British and U.S. forces link up in the Laroche area.

13/01/1945

The U.S. First Army attack the Germans between Stavelot and Malmady.

16/01/1945

The British Second Army attacks the Germans East of Maas, as the U.S. First and Third Armies meet at Houffalize. The German offensive in the Ardennes is on its last legs.

19/01/1945

Hitler orders that all divisional sized and larger attacks, or retreats must have his approval.

20/01/1945

The French First Army under de Lattre attacks against the Colmar Pocket in Alsace.

28/01/1945

The Ardennes salient is finally eradicated.

29/01/1945

The allied thrust into Rhineland continues with the capture of Oberhausen, 10 miles Northeast of Duisberg. Vidkun Quisling meets Hitler in Berlin for the last time.

01/02/1945

The U.S. First Army takes Remscheid, 20 miles to the East of D�sseldorf. The U.S. Seventh Army reaches Moder and Siegfried Line.

02/02/1945

French troops occupy Colmar.

04/02/1945

The U.S. First Army takes the first of seven Ruhr dams. Belgium is now reported as completely free of German troops.

07/02/1945

The Germans blow up the floodgates in the Ruhr, flooding the area West of Cologne and preventing the use of assault floating bridges by Allies.

08/02/1945

50,000 British and Canadians troops with 500 tanks and 1,034 guns launch a new offensive into the Reichswald, to the Southeast of Nijmegen.

09/02/1945

British and Canadians troops smash the first of the main Siegfried Line defence zones. The last Rhine bridge is blown in the Colmar Pocket. Half the German Nineteenth Army were evacuated, but General De Lattre's forces have taken 22,000 German prisoners since the 20th January.

10/02/1945

The U.S. First Army captures the seventh and most important Ruhr dam.

12/02/1945

British and Canadians troops advancing from Southeast Holland take Cleve in western Germany.

14/02/1945

Canadian and British troops reach the Rhine, 40 miles Northwest of Duisberg.

17/02/1945

The U.S. Third Army launches a new offensive into Germany, having pierced the Siegfried Line on a 11-mile front.

23/02/1945

The US Ninth Army begins an offensive from its bridgeheads on the Roer river leading to the bloody battle of the H�rtgen Forest.

24/02/1945

A haggard and aged-looking Hitler addresses his Gauleiters and Reichsleiters for what proves to be the last time in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the Nazi Party program. Perhaps sensitive to the likelihood of public scepticism and derision, he refuses to allow the speech to be broadcast or even reported to the public at large.

26/02/1945

The attacks by the US Ninth Army into the H�rtgen Forest make little progress.

27/02/1945

SHAEF reports that spectacular gains by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies on the Cologne Plain have been made.

28/02/1945

The US Ninth Army achieves a breakthrough near Erkelenz 30 miles to the West of Cologne, but loses 100 tanks in the process.

01/03/1945

The US Ninth Army captures M�nchen-Gladbach and Rheydt west of the Rhine.

02/03/1945

Armoured spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss. The U.S. Third Army captures Trier on the Moselle.

03/03/1945

Units of the Canadian First Army capture Xanten on the lower Rhine in the battle of the Reichswald. The US First Army captures Krefeld.

05/03/1945

Advance patrols of the U.S. First Army reach Cologne. Germany is now conscripting 15 and 16-year-olds into the regular army.

06/03/1945

The U.S. Third Army reaches the Rhine Northwest of Koblenz, as Cologne falls to U.S. First Army.

07/03/1945

The U.S. 9th Armoured Division makes a surprise dash across the undestroyed Rhine bridge at Remagen, establishing a crucial bridgehead on the East bank.

08/03/1945

British and Canadian troops involved in Operation 'Blockbuster' enter Xanten on the Rhine after several days of heavy fighting further to the South U.S. troops enter Bonn.

09/03/1945

The U.S. First Army widens the Remagen bridgehead. The US Third Army captures Andernach on the Rhine.

10/03/1945

Field Marshal Kesselring replaces Field Marshal von Rundstedt as C-in-C of German forces in the West. German troops evacuate Wesel on the lower Rhine. The US Third Army captures Bonn.

11/03/1945

The US third Army captures Kochem on the lower Moselle river.

14/03/1945

The U.S. Third Army crosses the Moselle, Southwest of Koblenz.

15/03/1945

Attacks by troops of the US First Army to expand the Remagen bridgehead further, meet with little success.

17/03/1945

The U.S. Third Army takes Koblenz. The Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, seized by US troops on the 7th March, suddenly collapses, killing dozens of US Army engineers working to reinforce it.

18/03/1945

The US Third Army captures Boppard on the Rhine.

19/03/1945

The U.S. Seventh Army take Worms, 60 miles to the Southeast of Koblenz. Hitler orders the demolition of all German industrial, utility and transport facilities in danger of falling into enemy hands; this order (Verbrannte Erde Scorched Earth) is sabotaged by armaments minister Speer and most local commanders.

20/03/1945

The U.S. Seventh Army takes Saarbr�cken.

21/03/1945

Units of the U.S. First Army advances from the Remagen bridgehead toward Siegburg.

22/03/1945

The U.S. First Army's bridgehead at Remagen is now 30 miles long. Units of the US Third Army cross the Rhine at Oppenheim south of Mainz against minimal German resistance.

23/03/1945

The U.S. Third Army crosses the Rhine North of Worms, as the British Second and Canadian First Armies begin their assault across the Rhine above the Ruhr.

24/03/1945

Montgomery's 21st Army Group attacks across the Rhine, 15 miles North of Duisberg in the Wesel area, after 3,500-gun barrage. 16,870 paratroops land across the river Rhine in Operation 'Plunder' and succeed in linking up with advancing British troops and establishing four bridgeheads. The US Third Army captures Speyer and Ludwigshafen on the upper Rhine.

25/03/1945

The U.S. First Army breaks out of the Remagen bridgehead. The British Second Army captures Wesel which has been nearly 100% destroyed by Allied bombing.

26/03/1945

The U.S. Third Army reaches Main and establishes contact with U.S. Seventh Army on the East side of Rhine, near Worms. The US Third Army captures Darmstadt.

27/03/1945

The allied bridgehead north of Ruhr is now 700 square miles. 16,257 POW's are taken for 6,781 allied casualties in four days. The U.S. Third Army captures Aschaffenburg.

28/03/1945

The British Second Army begin its drive towards the Elbe as the U.S. First Army captures Marburg, 60 miles Northeast of Koblenz. The US Third Army captures Limburg on the Lahn.

29/03/1945

The U.S. Seventh Army takes Mannheim and the U.S. Third Army takes Wiesbaden and Frankfurt.

30/03/1945

The U.S. First Army begins a 3 day battle for Paderborn.

31/03/1945

The Germans start pulling out of Holland. The French First Army crosses the Rhine for first time since Napoleon. The US Third Army reaches Siegen 20 miles East of the Rhine.

01/04/1945

The U.S. First and Ninth Armies link up at Lippstadt cutting off a third of a million German troops in the Ruhr area. The U.S. First Army enters Hamm, 40 miles Northeast of Essen.

02/04/1945

The British 7th Armoured Division enters Rhine on Dortmund-Ems canal, 60 miles Northeast of Essen.

03/04/1945

The British Second Army reaches M�nster; the U.S. Ninth Army captures Recklinghausen in the Ruhr, while the US First Army takes Fulda and Kassel.

04/04/1945

The US Third Army advancing toward Leipzig takes Suhl and Gotha and finally clears Kassel of German resistance. The British Second Army captures Osnabr�ck. The French First Army enters Karlsruhe.

05/04/1945

Eighteen U.S. divisions begin the clearance of Ruhr Pocket. The French First Army captures Karlsruhe on the upper Rhine.

07/04/1945

The U.S. First Army takes G�ttingen, 25 miles Northeast of Kassel. The US Ninth Army captures Hameln and Eisenach.

08/04/1945

A British SAS Brigade paratroops into eastern Holland, to clear the way for Canadians troops who are moving North. The British Second Army reaches Hildesheim, while the US Seventh Army captures Pforzheim near the upper Rhine.

10/04/1945

The Canadian First Army continues its push North into Holland, taking Deventer, 30 miles North of Nijmegen. The British Second Army takes Wildenhausen, 20 miles Southwest of Bremen. The U.S. Ninth Army takes Hanover.

11/04/1945

The U.S. Third Army takes the historic town of Weimar. The British Second Army takes Celle, 30 miles Northeast of Hanover, cutting the road to Hamburg. The U.S. Ninth Army capture Essen, Bochum and Goslar in the Harz Mountains. The U.S. Seventh Army reaches Schweinfurt, 80 miles to the East of Frankfurt.

12/04/1945

The U.S. Ninth Army crosses the Elbe, taking Brunswick. The U.S. Third Army takes Erfurt. French troops take Baden-Baden on the southern flank. The U.S. 6th Armoured Division overruns Buchenwald concentration camp. The British Second Army captures Celle 60 miles to the South of Hamburg.

13/04/1945

A local truce is declared near Celle so that the British Second Army can take over the notorious Belsen concentration camp. The U.S. Ninth Army clears the Duisberg Pocket. The US Third Army captures Erfurt and Weimar.

14/04/1945

U.S. troops split the Ruhr Pocket in two at Hagen. Glider troops capture the ex-German Chancellor von Papen at a hunting-lodge near Stockhausen along with three generals. The French launch a final assault on the trapped German garrison at Bordeaux. The British Second Army reaches the outskirts of Bremen, while the US Third Army captures Gera and Bayreuth. The Canadian First Army assumes military control of the Netherlands where German forces are now trapped in the Atlantic wall fortifications along the coastline.

15/04/1945

The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in northern Holland and captures Arnhem in the South. The US First Army captures Leuna and Merseburg in Saxony, while the French First Army captures Kehl and Offenburg on the upper Rhine.

16/04/1945

In northern Holland the Canadians take Harlingen, 50 miles Northeast of Amsterdam and occupies Leeuwarden and Groningen. The US First Army captures Solingen and Wuppertal.

18/04/1945

The Ruhr pocket is finally annihilated, with 317,000 Germans being captured, including 29 generals. The U.S. Ninth Army takes Magdeburg. The U.S. First Army enters D�sseldorf. General De Lattre’s French troops link up at Freudenstadt behind the Black Forest. The British Second Army captures �lzen and L�neburg. The US Third Army captures N�rnberg advancing units across the German/Czechoslovakian frontier.

19/04/1945

The British Second Army reaches the Elbe and launches an attack on Bremen. The U.S. First Army captures Leipzig and Halle, 50 miles South of Magdeburg. On the eve of Hitler's 56th birthday, Dr. Goebbels exhorts the nation and predicts that in spite of all misfortunes Germany will yet prevail, that the "perverse coalition between Bolshevism and Plutocracy" is about to break up, and that it is Adolf Hitler ("Our Hitler!") who will still turn back the tide and save Europe, as he has thus far, from falling into the clutches of the Kremlin.

20/04/1945

The U.S. Seventh Army takes Nuremberg.

21/04/1945

The U.S. Ninth Army captures Blankenburg, 80 miles to the East of Kassel. The U.S. First Army take Dessau. The French First Army captures Stuttgart along with 28,000 prisoners and crosses the Danube. Field Marshal Model, commits suicide. German troops keep up their resistance around Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains.

22/04/1945

The U.S. First and Ninth Armies clear all German resistance in the Harz Mountains, 40 miles Southwest of Magdeburg. The U.S. Seventh Army captures a bridge across the Danube. The British Second Army is fighting in the outskirts of Bremen. The U.S. Third Army starts its drive down the Danube valley as the French First Army reaches Lake Constance on the Swiss/ German border. Hitler, ignoring the pleas of his entourage, decides to stay in his bunker at Berlin to await the inevitable end.

23/04/1945

Dessau is reported as clear of German troops. The British Second Army reaches Harburg across the Elbe from Hamburg. Frankfurt is captured. Goring telegraphs Hitler saying that he will take over command as Hitler’s Deputy. Hitler says he must resign all his posts and orders Goring’s arrest. Reichsf�hrer-SS Himmler begins secret negotiations for a separate peace in the West with Count Bernadotte, head of the Swedish Red Cross.

24/04/1945

The British Second and Canadian First Armies enter Bremen. The U.S. First Army liberates Dachau concentration camp. The US Seventh Army crosses the Danube at Dillingen and captures Ulm.

25/04/1945

The U.S. Third Army crosses the Danube, 70 miles Northeast of Munich. The RAF attacks the ‘Eagle’s Nest’, Hitler’s chalet and the SS barracks at Berchtesgarten. Troops of the U.S. Ninth Army and the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front meet on the Elbe at Torgau, 100 miles Southwest of Berlin.

26/04/1945

German troops at Bremen surrender to the British and Canadians. Allied troops now line the Swiss border from Basle to Lake Constance. The U.S. Third Army takes Regensburg on the Danube. Goering’s fall from grace announced in Germany, General Ritter von Greim is to replace him.

27/04/1945

The U.S. First Army captures Straubing and Kempten in Bavaria.

28/04/1945

The Canadian First Army captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven, while the U.S. Seventh Army takes Augsburg and reaches the Austrian border to the South. Hitler marries his mistress, Eva Braun, and dictates his political testament in which he justifies the political and military actions of his 12-year-rule, blaming the war on international Jewry and exhorting the German people even after defeat to adhere to the principles of National Socialism, especially its racial laws. Grossadmiral D�nitz is appointed as his successor.

29/04/1945

The British Second Army crosses the Elbe near Hamburg, less than 100 miles west of the Russian forces in Mecklenburg. The U.S. Seventh Army reaches Munich. The French First Army captures Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.

30/04/1945

Hitler commits suicide with Eva Braun. The U.S. Third Army liberates 110,000 POW's in the Moosburg area, Northeast of Munich. The U.S. Seventh Army clears Munich and the French takes Friedrichshafen and cross into Austria. The U.S. First Army meet the Russians at Ellenburg, South of Berlin. The British Second Army liberates 20,000 prisoners (two third POW's and one third political prisoners) from Sandbostel camp in northern Germany.

01/05/1945

Grossadmiral D�nitz, following the death of Hitler, assumes his duties as the new German head of state. The U.S. Ninth and British Second Armies link bridgeheads over the Elbe. General Walther Wenck’s Twelfth Army falls back to Elbe with wounded and refugees and try's to negotiate with U.S. forces. The U.S. Third Army reaches the German/Austrian border at Braunan, 70 miles East of Munich.

02/05/1945

The British Second Army reaches L�beck. The first lorry convoys carrying relief supplies to occupied Holland are allowed through German lines.

03/05/1945

German envoys meet Montgomery at his HQ on L�neburg Heath, South of Hamburg to discuss peace. The envoys return to Donitz and recommend unconditional surrender of all forces facing the 21st Army Group. The German defence system in NW Germany is now in chaos as troops, civilians and refugees pour west to escape the Russian advance. General Wolz surrenders Hamburg to the British Second Army and declares Hamburg an open city. The U.S. Ninth Army makes contact with the Russians in the Wismar area. The U.S. Third Army crosses the river Inn, while the U.S. Seventh Army captures Innsbruck and reaches the Brenner Pass.

04/05/1945

Admiral von Friedeburg arrives at Montgomery’s HQ on L�neburg Heath with German plenipotentiaries. At 8.15pm SHAEF announce that ‘Field Marshal Montgomery has reported to the supreme allied command that all enemy forces in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark, have surrendered. The U.S. Ninth Army breaks up the German Ninth and Twelfth Armies. The U.S. Seventh Army takes Innsbruck, Salzburg and Berchtesgarten, which is still smoking after an RAF raid. Field-Marshal von Kleist gives himself up to the U.S. Third Army near Straubing.

05/05/1945

Admiral von Friedeburg arrives at General Eisenhower’s HQ in Rheims. General Blaskowitz, the German C-in-C of the Netherlands, surrenders at a ceremony in the small Dutch town of Wagenungen in the presence of Prince Bernhard. The first British victory salvo of war is fired at 3pm from Montgomery’s HQ. Amsterdam is liberated. Eisenhower announces the capitulation of German Army Group ‘C’, which was covering the front from Linz to Swiss frontier. The U.S. Third Army takes Pilsen, Karlsbad and prepares to drive towards Prague.

07/05/1945

The German Chief-of-Staff, General Jodl, signs Germany's unconditional surrender to the western allies and Russia at 2:41am. Operations are to cease at 1 minute after midnight (GMT) on the 8th May. British troops enter Utrecht to a tumultuous reception.

08/05/1945

VE-Day (Victory-in-Europe Day).

09/05/1945

The German garrisons at Lorient, St Nazaire and La Rochelle on the French Atlantic Coast finally surrender. Reich Marshal Goring and his wife, children and staff, surrender to Brigadier General Stack, of the U.S. 36th Division, near Salzburg. Field Marshal Kesselring, C-in-C West, is captured by U.S. troops at the village of Saalfelden, in western Austria.

11/05/1945

The German garrison at Dunkirk surrenders to Czech troops.

14/05/1945

Vienna radio announces the re-establishment of the Austrian Republic. The Anschluss with Germany is declared null and void. British troops occupy the German island of Heligoland in the North Sea.

21/05/1945

The British Second Army arrest Himmler (in disguise) at Bremervorde.

22/05/1945

Montgomery is appointed as C-in-C of the British force of occupation in Germany and a British member of the allied control commission.

23/05/1945

British troops arrest the Donitz government and the remnants of the German High Command at Flensburg. Himmler commits suicide at the British Second Army HQ on L�neburg Heath.

29/05/1945

SHAEF in Paris says that there are an estimated 4.25 million displaced persons in the Anglo-American zone, of which only 1.39 million have so far been repatriated, most of these to Western Europe.

05/06/1945

The four allied powers sign a declaration on the defeat of Germany, which divides the country into four zones.

06/06/1945

The Anniversary of D-Day, sees Eisenhower order a holiday for troops in Europe. Allied casualties from D-Day to VE-Day were 776,967 of which 141,590 killed.

08/06/1945

SHAEF reveal the details of the German plans to exterminate all Jews in Europe by the summer 1946.

25/06/1945

The allies announce the division of Austria into four administrative zones. British Second Army in Germany is to be disbanded and sent back to Britain.

05/07/1945

SHAEF says of the 5.8m displaced persons (found in the Anglo-American Zone, 3.26m have been repatriated and 2.53m, mostly Eastern Europeans) still remain in repatriation camps.

14/07/1945

The first Bastille Day for five years is celebrated enthusiastically by the French.

31/07/1945

The French collaboration trials have so far resulted in 1,629 death sentences, 757 hard labour for life, 5,328 other hard labour, 1,136 solitary confinement, 11,073 prison sentences, 22,137 to suffer national degradation and 3,564 acquitted.